But there was widespread criticism against the selection of Sardesai, which almost everyone seemed to agree stood out as the proverbial sore thumb
Partab Ramchand08-Apr-2002Surprise inclusions and omissions abound in almost any touringsquad. But there are times when the selectors are responsible fora really shocking inclusion or omission. Syed Kirmani not beingpicked for the tour of England in 1979 and Sourav Ganguly beingselected for the tour of England seventeen years later are primeexamples that come to mind.
But there was widespread criticism against the selection ofSardesai, which almost everyone seemed to agree stood out as theproverbial sore thumb. The critics picked holes in his techniqueand questioned his ability to stand up to fast bowling; theypointed out to his none-too-impressive record in England andAustralia; they reckoned that at 31 he was over the hill and saiduncharitable things about his tardiness in the field.
But surely never has the selection of a player aroused suchwidespread criticism as when Dilip Sardesai was selected for thetour of the West Indies in 1971.To understand this, one has to examine the Bombay right-handedbatsman’s career briefly. Sardesai made his debut against Englandat Kanpur in 1961-62 and was more or less a regular member of theIndian team till the tour of Australia in 1967-68. His career hadups and downs, marred somewhat by the fact that he was tried outboth as an opener and a middle-order bat.Left to himself, Sardesai would have preferred to bat in themiddle but such was the plight of Indian cricket in the sixtiesthat in the absence of recognised opening batsmen, Sardesai wasmade the guinea pig.A moderate tour of England in 1967 followed by a disastrousseries in Australia in 1967-68 (he had scores of 1,11,1 and 5 inthe first two Tests) saw Sardesai lose his place in the team.Brought back against the same opponents in the return series athome two years later, Sardesai fared no better and after scoresof 20 and 3 in the first Test at Bombay, he was dropped again.By this time, Vijay Merchant had taken over as chairman of theselection committee and he had firm ideas of the future belongingto the youth. Under this process, he gave the big break toyoungsters like Ashok Mankad, Gundappa Viswanath, Ashok Gandotra,Ajit Pai, Eknath Solkar, Mohinder Amarnath, Chetan Chauhan andAmbar Roy during the twin rubbers against New Zealand andAustralia in 1969-70.Reverses during the season did not hinder Merchant fromcontinuing this process. When it came to picking the Indian teamto tour West Indies in early 1971, the policy was endorsed by theselection of Sunil Gavaskar, P Krishnamurthy, K Jayantilal and DGovindraj.By now, Sardesai was very much the forgotten man of Indiancricket. He had done nothing of note in the domestic circuit towarrant a comeback. But the equations changed a bit with Wadekartaking over the captaincy from Pataudi. It was on the captain’sinsistence that Sardesai made the final cut of 16 for the tour.And boy, did all hell break loose!All over the country, the team was welcomed as having the idealblend of youth and experience and even the recalls of SalimDurrani, Abid Ali and ML Jaisimha were hailed. But there waswidespread criticism against the selection of Sardesai, whichalmost everyone seemed to agree stood out as the proverbial sorethumb. The critics picked holes in his technique and questionedhis ability to stand up to fast bowling; they pointed out to hisnone-too-impressive record in England and Australia; theyreckoned that at 31 he was over the hill and said uncharitablethings about his tardiness in the field.The more vociferous among the detractors alleged that the “Bombayhand” was at work with all three key figures the selectioncommittee chairman, the new captain and the player himself being from the western metropolis.Even at this stage, it was clear that Sardesai was being taken asa reserve batsman. With Gavaskar, Jayantilal and Mankad asopeners and with Durrani, Jaisimha, Wadekar, Viswanath, Solkarand Abid Ali to man the middle-order, there was obviously noplace for Sardesai in the playing eleven.But then fate intervened. A knee problem forced Viswanath to missthe opening first-class match of the tour against Jamaica.Sardesai was included, scored 97 and with Viswanath still on theinjured list, the Bombay veteran was included in the team for thefirst Test at Kingston. And the rest, as the cliché goes, ishistory."`The renaissance man of Indian cricket," gushed Merchant whilespeaking of Sardesai’s feats during the tour of the Caribbean,and most notably the innings that heralded the most successfulphase in Indian cricket. Coming in at 13 for two on the secondmorning after the first day’s play was washed out, Sardesai sawIndia slide to 75 for five.First in the company of Solkar and then with Prasanna forsupport, Sardesai scored 212 while helping India to a total of387. It was enough to force the West Indies to follow on, a majortriumph considering the fact that in 23 previous Tests, India hadnot even gained the first innings lead. It was the first doublecentury by an Indian in a Test outside India.By resolute batting in the second innings, the West Indies drewthe match but the shock had been registered and they neverrecovered. India won the second Test at Port of Spain by sevenwickets their first victory over the West Indies in 25encounters and not unexpectedly, Sardesai played a leading rolein the historic triumph by scoring 112.A failure only 45 in the third Test at Georgetown was theprelude to another great knock in the next Test at Bridgetown. Inthe face of a West Indian total of 501 for six declared, Indiawere 70 for six midway through the third afternoon. Again withSolkar, Sardesai retrieved the innings with a record 186-runpartnership for the seventh wicket.India, however, were still in danger of following on when BishenBedi joined him for the last wicket, with the score 285 for nine.Sardesai inspired the No 11 batsman to hold on while he went forthe shots that saw India reach 347. Sardesai finished with 150and India ended up saving the match.Scores of 75 and 21 in the final Test at Port of Spain saw himreach a tally of 642 runs at an average of 80.25 but by this timehe was playing a secondary role to "new boy" Gavaskar who wasfuriously rewriting the record-books. Still there is no denyingthat it was Sardesai who spearheaded the Indian challenge thatultimately saw them win a series against the West Indies for thefirst time. And to think that his was the one selection that hadattracted so much derision! In severity of criticism followed byenormity of achievement only Ganguly’s case a quarter of acentury later comes close.